SERDANG, May 2 - Firdaus Japre, student of Bachelor of Business Administration from the School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has expressed his gratitude when he was finally allowed to return home after being stranded on campus for 44 days since the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) which began on March 18.

Firdaus, who is from Taiping, Perak, said at the onset of the announcement of the MCO, he had decided to return home, but by then the university had ordered all students to remain on campus.

“At first, it felt rather lonely staying in the residential college room alone because my roommate has returned to his hometown before the MCO was announced.

"However, I later took the initiative to hang out with students from different blocks whom I haven’t spoken to before…from there, I got to meet new friends," he said.

He also added that the university had organised various programmes such as preparing face shields for frontliners while the UPM Student Council for Session 2019/2020 had organised the Creative Photography Competition under the Putra Quality Quarantine 2020 programme.

Firdaus expressed his gratitude for the initiatives taken by UPM, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the frontliners in assisting students from Institutions of Higher Learning (IPT) to return home safely.

"Upon returning home, I will self-quarantine myself from my family for fear of risking my family even though I do not have close contact with COVID-19 patients," he said.

To UPM students who feel overwhelmed by the MCO situation and online studies, he encouraged them to be grateful as there are in fact some students who are not able to return home because their family homes are situated in the COVID-19 red zones.

His mother, Zakiah Ahmad, expressed her happiness knowing that her son was able to come home but at the same time worried about the COVID-19 outbreak situation in Malaysia.

"I believe the government has provided a strict SOP for students to return to their hometowns and as a parent myself, I would like to thank UPM for taking good care of the welfare of my child throughout the MCO period on campus," she said. - UPM